MICHAELMAS – FEAST OF ST MICHAEL, 29th SEPTEMBER St MICHAEL THE PROTECTOR

MICHAELMAS – FEAST OF ST MICHAEL, 29th SEPTEMBER

St MICHAEL THE PROTECTOR


"St Michael", by Michaelangelo, on Castel San' Angelo.

“But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people.” Daniel 12:1
St Michael is our protector, throughout our life, and at the moment of our death when he accompanies the soul on our journey. It is St Michael who will sound the trumpet on Judgement Day and escort the souls to the presence of God. He is part of a fraternity of Archangels that include Gabriel, Raphael and others.
Catholics, from the early Church, carried through the Jewish tradition of identifying St Michael as the guardian of God’s people on earth. He is mighty among the angels – the leader of God’s heavenly host - but his power lies in his humility and his submission to God’s will.
The Apocalypse depicts him as the commander of the heavenly host of angels as they battle Satan and his spirits, who, driven by pride, rebel against God – a rebellion against the natural order which Lucifer sought to be subjected to his will.
7 And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels:
8 And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And that dragon was cast out, that old serpent who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world: and he was cast unto the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: Now is come salvation, and strength and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. The Apocalypse 12:7-11
GUARDIAN OF THE CHURCH
The refusal of Lucifer to accept the future prospect of the Incarnation of the Word is counterbalanced by the protection by God’s host, led by St Michael, towards the new Adam, Christ, and His bride, the Church.
The role of the angels in this aspect reflects the covenant of mankind with God – the wedding of God and His people, a marriage consummated by the Sacrifice of the Lamb on Calvary. This image of the angels as the friend of the Bridegroom in the Canticle of Canticles is a symbolism going back to Jewish tradition, carried into the New Covenant.*
The role of the friends of the bridegroom is to conduct the bridegroom to his bride and to withdraw from them at once. ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30). The friends of the bridegroom are those who have prepared the ways of the Lord, who have led humanity to Him. Their job is complete when their task is accomplished and the bride- God’s people, the Church - is with the bridegroom, the King of the angels.*
The Mass is a sacramental participation in the liturgy of heaven, the cult officially rendered to the Trinity by the full host of the spiritual creation. “The angels surround the priest’, writes St John Chrysostom. ‘The whole sanctuary and the space before the altar is filled with the heavenly powers come to honour Him who is present upon the altar.”*
The offerings at Solemn Mass, consisting of the Bread, Wine and the faithful, are incensed as a threefold gift to God, the incense blessed by the priest with the prayer:
May the Lord, by the intercession of blessed Michael the Archangel, who standeth at the right side of the altar of incense, and of all His Elect, vouchsafe to bless this incense and receive it as an odour of sweetness: through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
The unity of the two cults – heavenly and earthly- is expressed by the liturgy itself in the Preface, where the community of the Church is invited to unite with the Thrones and Dominions, the Cherubim and the Seraphim, to sing the angelic hymn of praise, the Thrice-holy (Trisagion), The Sanctus;
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt coeli, et terra Gloria tua.
Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.
Hosanna in excelsus
St John Chrysostom observed that the Sanctus is the chant of the Seraphim; it leads into the very sanctuary of the Trinity, and thus ‘it is reserved for the initiated, the baptized.’” Jean Danielou ibid., at pp. 70-71.
Jean Daneliou described it:
“This chant of the Seraphim expresses holy fear. It describes the awe felt by even the highest creatures in the presence of the infinite divine excellence. And this enables us to understand better the holiness of the Eucharist, which leads us, with the Seraphim, into the presence of the all-holy God, hidden only by the fragile species of bread and wine.”*
At the Eucharistic Sacrifice there is only one priestly activity, that of Jesus Christ. The presence of the angels introduces the Eucharist into heaven itself:
We most humbly beseech Thee, almighty God, to command these offerings to be borne by the hands of Thy holy Angel to Thine altar on high, in the sight of Thy divine Majesty, that as many as shall partake of the most holy Body and Blood of Thy Son at this altar, may be filled with every heavenly grace and blessing. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
St Michael is protector, not only of the living, but the dying as well; he assists the dying, accompanying the soul to purgatory and presents them to God upon their entrance into Heaven. The Church expresses this patronage in the Offertory of the Requiem Mass:
"Sed signifer sanctus Michael repraesentet eas in lucem sanctum quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini eius."
"Saint Michael, the banner bearer, may conduct them to the holy light which Thou hast promised to Abraham and his seed."
It is customary to invoke St Michael’s assistance at the end of every Low Mass. Congregations pray the prayer promoted by Pope Leo XII at the end of the nineteenth century- a prayer he composed, reportedly, after an ominous vision of spiritual warfare;
“St Michael, the Archangel, defend us in the hour of battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”
Jean Danielou, “The Angels”, Sophia, (1953/2009), at pp. 53, 68, 69

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